Canopy door



R. S. PEELLE.

CANOPY DOOR.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 30, 1919.

Patented Jan. 17, 1922.

W WW W q wwwtoz UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT S. PEELLE, OF HOLLIS, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO THE PEELLE COMPANY, A

CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

CANOPY DOOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 17, 1922.

Application filed. January 30, 1919. Serial No. 273,985.

My invention relates to canopy doors, and

moreparticularly to a safety appliance for a door of the so-called canopy type.

The main object of my invention is to so construct a canopy door of this type that in the event of breakage of the actuating cables, the violent closing of the door will be prevented, the door being provided with an automatically acting safety appliance, which will act substantially simultaneously with the breakage of the cables, to hold the door in any position in which it may be at the time of such breakage. To secure the desired operative efi'ect and prevent the accidental actuation of this safety appliance, excepting upon the breakage of the cables, the construction is such that under normal conditions the mechanism of said appliance will be held inoperative by the cable itself. The safety appliance proper is so constructed that when it is once actuated by the breakage of the cable, the load of the door will become effective to insure apermanent set of this mechanism, the movable member thereof being brought into the desired operative relation to its cooperating member by means of a spring which may be of light tension, a rebound of this movable member against the tension of said spring, being impossible.

The invention consists primarily in a canopy door embodying therein a vertical, channelled guide member, a movable door section, a guide member carried by the door adjacent said channelled guide member, a rack within said channelled member, a lever pawl pivotally mounted upon said door section within said guide member and adapt-' ed to operatively engage said rack, a cable secured to one arm of said pawl, whereby it is normally held out of engagement with said rack, a spring ada ted to move said pawl into engagement with said rack upon the breakage of the cable, and means operative upon said cable whereby the door may;

be opened and closed; and in such other novel features of construction and combination of parts as are hereinafter set forth and described, and more particularly pointed out in the claims hereto appended.

Referring to the drawings,

Fig. l is an elevation of a canopy door embodying my invention;

Fig 2 is a section through the door, the open position of the door being indicated in dotted lines; and v Fig. 3 is a detailed view of the safety appliance, the operative position thereof being shown in dotted lines.

Like letters refer to like parts through out the several views.

In the embodiment of my invention shown in the drawings, I have illustrated an ordinary canopy door consisting of an upper section a hinged adjacent the lintel of a door opening, and a lower section b hinged to the lower edge of said upper section, said sections being of substantially the same dimensions.

At opposite sides of the door opening, indicated at c, are vertically extending channelled guide members d and e of a length to correspond with the maximum movement of the lower edge of the section b.

The section 7) adjacent its lower edge, is provided at opposite 4 sides thereof, with guide members f consisting of ordinary roll ers adapted to track on the wall adjacent said door opening 0 and the guide members de respectively.

Within each channelled member de is a vertical rack g by means of which, and a cooperating pawl it carried by and movable withthe section b, the door will be locked in any position in which it may then be, in the -M- event of breakage of the actuating cables. Each pawl h is pivotally mounted upon the same shaft as its associated roller 7 and is in the form of a lever, an actuating cablez' being attached to one arm h of this lever so that under normal conditions the pawlwill be held out of engagement with said rack.

Acting upon each pawl h is a spring j exerting a normal tendency to force said pawl into engagement with its co-o'perating rack The cables 71 pass over pulleys lck' above the lintel of the door opening 0, to a hand winch Z0 which may be of any desired type. -The pawls k are positioned within the channelled members de respectively, and.

. the engagement of the arm h with a flangeof saidchannelled member, thus causing the pawls h, or either of them, to be maintained in engagement with its co-operating rack by the dead load of the door, the spring jmerely serving to throw the pawl into such engagement substantially instantly with the breakage of a cable By this construction I ensure a positive stoppage of the door before it has developed sufficient momentum to cause damage to the safety appliance, and cause the development of a wedging action by the weight of the door which will minimize any tendency of the door to rebound after the pawl h is once set in relation to its rack.

The operation of a door made in accordance with my invention is substantially as follows In doors of the canopy type, the actuation of the winch will, through the cables 2', lift the lower section Z) of the door, the two sections ab owing to the hinge connection between their abutting edges folding together, as indicated in dotted lines, Fig. 2, the lower edge of the section I) having movement in a substantially vertical plane and being guided by the rollers f in its movement. In a door made in accordance with my invention, the load of the door will be transmitted to said cables 2', through the swing pawls h positioned within the channelled guide member ed, thus preventing the door sections from swinging away fromthe wall about the door opening.

The load of the door will, undernormal conditions, swing the pawls it away from their co-operating racks 9 so that the door may be freely opened and closed. Instantly, wit-h the breakage of a cable, however, the spring 7' of the pawl to which such cable is connected, will move the pawl into engagement with the tooth of the rack g opposite the pawl at the moment, thus causing the load upon the cable before its breakage to be transmitted through the said pawl to the rack g. When the pawlengages the fiat of the tooth of this rack, irrespective of the quantity of movement of the pawl under the influence of said spring, the load of the door will rotate the pawl, until the arm h thereof engages the flange of the channelled member d or 6, thus developing a wedging action, which will not only prevent a rebound of the pawl, but will ease up the stoppage of the door, and minimize the jar of stoppage and such a tendency of the door to rebound as might disengage the pawl from the rack.

The spring j is normally held in tension through the action of the cables 2' upon the pawls h, the use of a spring of fairly light tension being made possible since the sole function of the spring is to ensure a sulficient rotative movement of the pawl to engage it with the rack, subsequent rotative movement resulting from the load of the door upon said pawl.

An essential characteristic of my invention is a swing pawl to which the actuating cable is attached, anda co-operating rack, said pawl being held out of engagement with said rack by the load of the door transmitted thereto through said cable, and being forced into engagement with said rack by a spring acting thereon in the event of breakage of the cable.

It is not my intention to limit the invention to the precise details of construction shown in the accompanying drawings, it being apparent that such may be varied without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Having described the invention, what I claim as new and desire to have protected by Letters ,Patent, is

1. A canopy door embodying therein a vertical, channelled guide member, a movable door section adapted to move upwardly when opening the door, a guide member carried by said section and adapted to track on the wall adjacent the door opening, a rack within said channelled member, a lever pawl .pivotally mounted upon said door section,

one arm of said lever pawl being adapted to normally operatively engage said rack and the other arm of said lever pawl being adapted to normally engage a side flange of said channelled member, a spring for moving said pawl into engagement with said rack, and means operatively connected to said pawl, whereby said pawl will be released when the door is raised.

2. A canopy door embodying therein an upper door section hinged adjacent the lintel of a door opening, a lower door section hinged to said upper door section, a guide member carried by said lower door section and adapted to track on the wall adjacent the door opening, a rack within said channelled member, a lever pawl pivotally mounted upon the lower door section and projecting within said channelled member, one arm of said lever pawl normally operatively engaging the rack and the other arm normally engaging the side flange of said channelled member, a spring for moving said pawl into engagement with said rack, and means operatively connected to the pawl for releasing it and raising the door.

3. A canopy door embodying therein a vertical, channelled guide member, an upper door section hinged adjacent the lintel of a door opening, a lower door section hinged to said upper door section, a roller shaft carried by the lower door section adjacent its lower edge and projecting into said channelled member, a guide roller on said shaft adjacent the channelled member, a rack within said channelled member, a lever pawl pivoted on the shaft, one arm of said lever pawl normally operatively engaging the rack, the other arm engaglng a side flange of said channelled guide member, a spring for moving said pawl into engagement with said rack and means operatively connected to the pawl for releasing it and raising the door.

4:. A canopy door embodying therein a vertical, channelled guide member upon opposite sides of a door opening, an upper door section hinged adjacent the lintel of said opening, a lower door section hinged to said upper section, roller shafts carried by the opposite sides of the lower door section adjacent said lower edge, said shafts respectively projecting into said channelled member, a guide roller on each shaft adjacent the adjoining channelled member, a lever pawl pivotally mounted upon each shaft, and projecting within the adjoining channelled member, a rack within each of said channelled members, a lever pawl pivoted upon each shaft, one arm of each of said pawls normally operatively engaging its co-operating rack, and the other arm normally engaging a side flange of its co-operatlng channelled guide member,'a sprlng acting upon each pawl for IIlOVlIlg it into engagement with its co-operating rack, and 1 ROBERT S. PEELLE.

Witnesses F. T. WENTWORTH, A. E. R-ENTON. 

